Starwood steps up Asia distribution

14th Sep 2007

Agoda Company has made an arrangement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts to distribute their Asia Pacific properties via Agoda’s websites. Representing eight luxury hotel and resort brands including the Sheraton, Le Meridien, St Regis and Westin hotels, Starwood has 124 properties in the Asia Pacific with over 50 new hotels opening in the region over the next year.

According to Wilfred Fan, Agoda’s Vice President, Business Development, Starwood will utilize Agoda.com’s extranet-based inventory management system so that Agoda’s customers will have last minute availability at favorable rates which change frequently with seasonality and market trend. The partnership will launch in Southeast Asia this month and is expected to cover the entire Asia Pacific region within the year.

“Starwood’s increasing presence in the Asia-Pacific Region will be welcome news to Agoda customers who are seeking additional luxury accommodation options in Asia and are familiar with the Starwood brands and reputation for service,” said Fan.

Agoda Company has been operating since 1998 and markets hotels in Asia through Agoda.com and local market branded Agoda sites in nine languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and other European languages.

Agoda and Starwood are planning to roll-out unique promotions for Starwood properties, designed to cater to the online market, which is increasingly driven by last minute impulse purchases, enabled by low cost carriers.

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“We see significant interest in properties such as the Sheraton Saigon Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Sheraton Hua Hin Resort and Spa in Hua Hin and The Westin Guangzhou in Guangzhou, China. The online channel is certainly heating up for hotel bookings in Asia,” Fan added.——-